NAME
fnmatch
—
match filename or pathname using shell
globbing rules
SYNOPSIS
#include
<fnmatch.h>
int
fnmatch
(const
char *pattern, const char
*string, int
flags);
DESCRIPTION
The
fnmatch
()
function matches patterns according to the globbing rules used by the shell.
It checks the string specified by the string argument
to see if it matches the pattern specified by the
pattern argument.
The flags argument modifies the interpretation of pattern and string. The value of flags is the bitwise inclusive OR of any of the following constants, which are defined in the include file ⟨fnmatch.h⟩.
FNM_NOESCAPE
- Normally, every occurrence of a backslash (‘\’) followed by
a character in pattern is replaced by that
character. This is done to negate any special meaning for the character.
If the
FNM_NOESCAPE
flag is set, a backslash character is treated as an ordinary character. FNM_PATHNAME
- Slash characters in string must be explicitly matched by slashes in pattern. If this flag is not set, then slashes are treated as regular characters.
FNM_PERIOD
- Leading periods in string must be explicitly matched
by periods in pattern. If this flag is not set, then
leading periods are treated as regular characters. The definition of
“leading” is related to the specification of
FNM_PATHNAME
. A period is always leading if it is the first character in string. Additionally, ifFNM_PATHNAME
is set, a period is leading if it immediately follows a slash. FNM_LEADING_DIR
- Ignore ‘/*’ rest after successful pattern matching.
FNM_CASEFOLD
- Ignore case distinctions in both the pattern and the string.
RETURN VALUES
The fnmatch
() function returns zero if
string matches the pattern specified by
pattern, otherwise, it returns the value
FNM_NOMATCH
.
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The fnmatch
() function conforms to
IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (“POSIX.2”) and
X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4, Version 2
(“XPG4.2”).
Note, however, that the flags
FNM_LEADING_DIR
and
FNM_CASEFOLD
are extensions and should not be used
by applications striving for strict standards conformance.
HISTORY
The fnmatch
() function first appeared in
4.4BSD.
BUGS
The pattern ‘*
’ matches the
empty string, even if FNM_PATHNAME
is specified.